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Quarries – Edward Burtynsky
Burtynsky's Quarries project was the work that initially drew me to him. The sublime beauty of these photographs and their compositional poise made it accessible without knowing anything about issues involved or the artistic reputation of the photographer. This is Burtynsky's goal as far as I can tell though - to engage through beauty and then let the visual facts do the hard moving. This isn't original, but it is effective. In the Quarries book the message isn't overtly political more
Manufactured Landscapes – Edward Burtynsky
Published in 2003, Lori Pauli’s short biography and review of Burtynsky’s work to date provide some excellent historical and contextual background. more
Oil – Edward Burtynsky
Oil is Burtynsky’s masterpiece, he uses formal compositions to find beauty in almost anything, until we start to really see his chosen subject. more
What is Landscape Photography?
Joe Cornish "The landscape, the whole landscape and nothing but the landscape." But what is landscape? We know that everyone in the On Landscape community (the authors, the subscribers and general readership) is passionate about landscape photography. But when four of us got together to discuss the subject recently, (comprising Onlandscape founder Tim Parkin, photographic guru David Ward, photographer and designer Andrew Nadolski and me, Joe Cornish), we struggled to find agreement about what landscape photography actually was! It is only human more
What is Landscape Photography Podcast
Whilst discussing plans for the magazine and other ideas, David Ward, Joe Cornish, Tim Parkin and Andrew Nadolski took the opportunity to record a round table discussion covering a question that has been asked more than once in the past (usually around mid October in the last few years) what exactly is landscape photography (or more usually put "That's not bloody landscape photography!"). The session was recorded for your offline delectation as long as you don't end up angrily disagreeing more
Am I a Landscape Photographer?
“On Landscape”, is a veritable, virtual on-line temple of landscape photography. So the question posed by the title of this piece might seem almost sacrilegious to some of its readership. Whilst I obviously feel an affinity for the ethos of the magazine and the work presented I seriously wonder if a photographer should be (or even can be) predominantly defined by their subject matter. Schools or genres are of course commonplace in art but photography is amongst the most more
Paul Arthur
This issues featured photographer hails from Birmingham and works as an architectural, environmental and studio photographer but transforms like a celluloid batman into a landscape photographer when the urge becomes too strong to resist (oops - flowery language filter failure!). Take it away Paul Arthur! In most photographers’ lives there are 'epiphanic’ moments where things become clear, or new directions are formed. What were your two main moments and how more
Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire
I had not visited Sutton Bank before despite (or possibly because) it being such a well photographed landscape location, most famously by Joe Cornish who has visited here many times. In 2011 I received a phone call asking me if I were interested in meeting up to discuss a project to provide photographs for the visitor centre refurbishment, something I was more than happy to do (as you can more
The Highlands: Land and Light – Craig Aitchison
Craig Aitchison's panoramas of Scotland mine a well used vein of place and form probably most well known from photographer Colin Prior. Craig undoubetdly knows this inspiration and should be very pleased to get a testimonial from Colin himself. This isn't to suggest that the book is a clone of Colin's well known output but there is a sense of initial familiarity when browsing the book. The images are more
The Sacred Headwaters – Carr Clifton
Carr Clifton is a photographer that I have talked about before in On Landscape (in "The Rightful Heir to Eliot Porter?") and who is probably one of the hardest working landscape photographers covering environmental issues. The Sacred Headwaters book is one I have been trying to get hold of for some time and I have to thank Paul Marsch for loaning me his copy to peruse and review. more
Ingredients for Photography
When it comes to improving their photography many photographers fall into the trap of placing the equipment at the top of the list. They presume that the latest upgrade or the next model up the range will be just what they need to take better photographs. Now don't get me wrong, if you have great photographic craft then better equipment can capture better images but if you're starting out more
Brittany
The endless variety of wonderfully sculpted shapes was simply overwhelming and I was constantly torn between taking shots to show the folks back home, and taking a more measured approach with an artistic intent. more
Melanie Foster
Quite often, the serious landscape photographer, particularly the large format variety, is thought of as a typically male profession - however, when we do see many women picking up a camera they quite often show just what the men should have been doing all along. Mel Foster is very good example of someone who stepped into her photography with an almost perfectly formed style from day one (especially with her more
Challenge Yourself!
Twisted Birches If, like me, you spend time on photo-sharing websites, both sharing your own work and viewing what others are getting up to, you will doubtless be aware of the dangers of getting too comfortable - complacent, even. Once you get to a level of ability where you can reliably produce images which receive lots of positive comments from your peer group, there is more
Northwest Beginnings
We visited an exhibition in the 1066 gallery where Julian Calverley has been exhibiting his photographs of Scotland under the title Northwest Beginnings. more